Organized Crime & Gangs

“Crime cost Mexicans 1.01 trillion pesos (nearly $85.38 billion) in 2009, a figure equivalent to 8.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), a study released over the weekend by the Citizens Crime Research Institute, or Icesi, said. Crime-related spending rose 11.5 percent in 2008 and 2009, the latest years

“A shoot-out between rival gangs left 18 people dead in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, amid a surge in deadly drug-related crime, the state government said. The government meanwhile announced the arrests of two alleged gang bosses and fresh charges against the scion of a major drug trafficking family, but previous arrests

“U.S. law enforcement seized thousands of pounds of drugs and arrested hundreds of people in a synchronized bust targeting Mexican drug cartels and their associates, federal authorities said Friday. The sweep involved several local, state and federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to

“Two soldiers and 12 gunmen were killed during a nearly six-hour-long battle in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, Mexican authorities said Friday. The clashes occurred in Xalapa, the state capital, the commander of the 6th Military Region, Carlos Rene Aguilar Paez, told a press conference. Five assault rifles, three

“At least 27 people were killed and 52 injured after an oil pipeline exploded Sunday morning in central Mexico, the state-run news agency said. The cause of the explosion in San Martin Texmelucan, in Puebla state, was under investigation, but preliminary reports pointed to the illegal extraction of oil from

“Ciudad Juárez, where vicious turf battles have sparked one of the highest homicide rates in the world, reached an even bloodier high in 2010. The death toll in drug related violence in the border city, the hardest hit by Mexico’s drug war, rose to 3,000 Tuesday after two men were

“Gunmen killed at least 10 people in two separate attacks in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Saturday, state media said. A group of armed men ambushed a police car and killed four municipal officers inside, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. The officers had no chance to draw their weapons to defend

“At least 23 people have been killed in five days of clashes as Brazilian security forces seek to crush drug gangs and impose law and order in the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro. The gangs are fighting back by opening fire on police stations and setting cars and buses

“As many as seven people, including at least one minor, were killed in an explosion at a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Sunday, police said. Twenty other people were injured, authorities said. Two of them were Americans, according to the U.S. State Department. Notimex, Mexico’s state news agency, reported